Streets in Colombo peaceful and less crowded than usual as election monitors say turnout at between 70% and 80%
Shehani Fernando in Colombo and Mark Tran
Voting in Sri Lanka's first presidential election since the defeat of the Tamil Tigers has largely passed off peacefully, with the country awaiting the result tomorrow after an acrimonious and at times violent campaign.
Following weeks of frantic campaigning by the two main presidential candidates, calm enveloped the capital, Colombo, today.
Streets were quieter than usual, with less traffic and bustle, as voters visited polling stations from 7am.
Election monitors said overall turnout was high, at between 70% and 80%, and voting took place amid heavy security, with more than 68,000 police officers deployed.
The feared widespread violence did not materialise, although more than a dozen incidents were reported, including one case in which a group chased away election workers and took their documents.
The economy was the primary concern for many of the 14 million eligible voters in the country's first peacetime presidential election in 26 years.
"Life is difficult – the cost of living is high. We need a change of government to stop corruption," Pathirannnehelage Priyalal, a 40-year-old businessman in the Colombo suburb of Gampaha, said .
He said he had voted for General Sarath Fonseka, a former army chief, and added: "There has been no relief even after the war and, if this government remains, even finding food will be difficult".
Dharmasena, a 55-year-old trishaw driver, said he was supporting President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is seeking a second six-year term.
"The former president will win," he said. "If people don't vote for him, you have to blame them because he has done a good job.
"Today we can go around Colombo without fear of bombs and violence. His leadership made the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) possible. He will be the winner".
Formerly allies, and the architects of the military victory against the Tamil Tigers in last year's campaign, Rajapaksa and Fonseka have since fallen out.
Fonseka, who believes he was sidelined after crushing the rebels, has accused the president of corruption. Rajapaksa's supporters claim Fonseka is a dictator in the making.
Both are considered heroes to the Sinhalese majority, and have promised to bring development to the country and lead its rebuilding effort after the war.
But neither has presented a detailed plan to resolve the underlying ethnic tensions – and the Tamil complaints of marginalisation – that sparked the rebels' separatist insurgency.
Fonseka's promise of change has resonated with many voters in Colombo, despite the fact that the former general is a political novice without administrative experience.
Many members of the electorate say they are tired of the government propaganda machine, which has fought hard to control information and media coverage, and the fact that so many members of Rajapaksa's family hold positions of political power.
Two Tamil lawyers at the Wellawatta polling station at St Peter's College, in Colombo, said they had backed Fonseka.
"We voted for Fonseka because we need good governance, to eliminate corruption and to implement law and order," one said.
"We like his ideas about abolishing the executive presidency. He has a good team backing him and we want peace".
PP Sekara, 41, a Tamil businessman, was also backing Fonseka, who has the support of a coalition of opposition parties including the main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance. The result of the election is expected to be tight.
"The chances are 50-50, who can say? We need to encourage foreign investment and we need to be a confident democracy," Sekara said.
"We need better relationships with the west because they can help us with development".
Asked whether he found it hard to vote for Fonseka knowing that he led the army against the LTTE in a campaign that caused many civilian deaths, Sekara said: "What's happened has happened, but we are hopeful for a brighter future".
Voting in the predominantly Tamil Jaffna peninsula in the north passed off equally peacefully.
"Everything has been calm ... I have been to several villages and talked to people casting their votes at schools," Soori Asgaram, a civil engineer who returned to Sri Lanka three months ago after living in Britain for 44 years, said.
"It is as orderly as an election in England, but I am anxious about the possibility of post-election violence, as it usually happens".
With the Sinhalese majority expected to be evenly split by the two main rivals, the Tamil vote could be decisive.
During the last presidential election in 2005, won by Rajapaksa, the Tamil Tigers enforced a boycott among ethnic Tamils at gunpoint. This year, however, Tamils were expected to vote.
The first results are not expected until tomorrow morning.
The Guardian
